Smile Like You Mean It
by azayana
Summary: They aren’t perfect never have been and never will be, but somehow, they like it better this way. [Drabble collection] [Zuko x Katara] [Aang x Toph]
1. Smile Like You Mean It

**Title:** Smile  
**Pairing/Characters:** Zuko/Katara  
**Setting/Time:** Book 3: Fire  
**Drabble #:** 1  
**Summary:** It was a dream, Zuko told himself. A very bad dream. After all, the Waterbender girl was trying to teach him to smile. And he was liking it. Which, in his opinion, made it a very bad dream.

* * *

Zuko decided that it had to be a dream. A very bad dream.

The Waterbender girl was teaching him.

Teaching him how to smile, to be more exact.

"Not like that, Zuko! Like this. Smile like you _mean it_."

Not to mention Dream Zuko (Zuko decided that there _was a huge difference_) was actually listening. And attempting (futilely) to smile.

"Almost! Make sure it reaches your eyes though."

For the first time, Dream Zuko noticed _her_ eyes. Her very blue, very pretty, very -_ wait._ Pretty?

She was _not pretty_. Sure, she wasn't ugly, and she had nice eyes and nice hair and she wasn't fat and she wasn't a skeleton and she had a nice nose and nice eyes and a nice voice and nice eyes and -

Okay, maybe she was _a little_ pretty.

Just a little.

"Yes! Like that! But make it seem more like you mean it."

He tried again. And again. And again.

Dream Zuko was crazy.

a) Dream Zuko was smiling. At the Waterbender.  
b) Dream Zuko was calling the Waterbender Katara and not 'peasant' or 'water witch' or anything or the sort.  
c) Dream Zuko was doing things. With Katara. Certain words starting with the letter 'g' that Uncle- no, the traitor, had taught him.  
d) Dream Zuko was _enjoying_ those things that started with the letter 'g'.  
e) Dream Zuko was -

For the love of Agni! Dream Zuko was _kissing_ Katara (as well as doing other unmentionable things). Dream Zuko was having a _make out session_ with the Waterbender. Dream Zuko was extremely content doing such things with Katara.

And the kissing was progressing at an alarming rate, too. A _very_ alarming rate.

"Zuzu! What's wrong?" Azula said in a saccharine voice, jolting her brother awake.

Zuko looked at his sister and turned away. For once he was grateful to Azula.

Some things were better kept secret.

Anyways, it wasn't like he _liked_ the filthy Waterbender. No, not at all. She was a peasant. Below him. Undeserving of his attention.

But he was keeping the dream secret anyways.

* * *

**A/N:** ... The randomness. Seriously, Katara teaching Zuko to SMILE. But it was a dream. And not canon. And... yeah. Zuko is a teenage boy. Therefore he has (cough) dreams. Yes.  
(embarassed)


	2. Sunflower

**Title:** Sunflower  
**Pairing/Characters:** Aang/Toph  
**Setting/Time:** N/A  
**Drabble #:** 2  
**Summary:** Toph sees no point in birthdays. Aang seeks to change that view.

* * *

It wasn't that she didn't like birthdays; it was just she didn't know what their point was. They were a waste of time. So what if you were a year older? It made no difference to who you were.

Then she sensed Aang shuffling his feet nervously, and asked him to stop that please, Twinkletoes or not, because it was getting on her nerves.

She didn't expect a flower shoved in her face.

"It's a sunflower," Aang explained. "For your birthday."

Running her hands over the petals, she smiled in her trademark Toph-ish way. It was all the thanks he needed.

Maybe birthdays weren't so bad after all.

* * *

A/N: 108 words… 8 words over. They're OOC, and I'm not even sure when during the timeline this is set. I chose a sunflower because it's supposed to mean 'strong' (from what I remember) and anyways, Aang wouldn't give her a rose.  
I'm on a roll today! And yesterday. Four new stories! I feel so proud of myself.


	3. Sweet Nothings

**Title:** Sweet Nothings  
**Pairing/Characters:** Zuko/Katara  
**Genre: **Romance/Angst  
**Drabble #:** 3  
**Summary:** He murmurs sweet nothings in your ear, and the once-upon-a-time you would have fallen for them.

* * *

He murmurs sweet nothings in your ear, and the once-upon-a-time you would have fallen for them.

_(you wish today you still could) _

The once-upon-a-time you was a fool and an idiot.

_(the you you'd give anything to be again; the you with the big dreams of equality and peace) _

"I'll set you free," he whispers, and in that split second of life, you almost believe him.

Almost. You're smarter now, and you've lost too much to ever truly be free. He knows it, you know it. He should be the same, though you have to wonder if he even cares.

_(anymore)_

_(I'll save you from the pirates, he said to the once upon a time you) _

_(you wish that once-upon-a-time you had taken the offer)_

He murmurs sweet nothings in your ear, and if you still had a heart, it would break.

_(once upon a time it was already broken)_

* * *

**A/N:** That certainly turned out differently from what it was going to be… If you don't like Zuko/Katara, just ignore the 'I'll save you from the pirates' part and pretend it's whoever/whoever. It's vague enough… 


	4. Heartbeat

**Title:** Heartbeat  
**Pairing/Characters:** Leaving it to your imagination…  
**Genre: **Romance/Angst  
**Drabble #:** 4  
**Summary:** She would like to imagine that if she strained her ears, she would hear his heartbeat.

* * *

She can almost hear his heart thumping against his ribcage. Some part of her wonders if it is really him, or another one of the illusions her mind has woven for her.

_How do you hear a heartbeat that can't exist because I don't think you have a heart?_

She hopes that it is not one of her delusions; she doesn't think she can stand that pain.

_If you break my heart, how do I forgive you?_

But between the silence and the words left hanging, she _knows_ that it is his heartbeat after all.

_I can hear your heartbeat; can you hear mine?_

* * *

**A/N:** Lately, I've had an obsession with vaguely angsty drabbles… Hopefully this is the last, though part of me says it isn't. 104 words! Close…


	5. Penance

**Title:** Penance  
**Pairing/Characters:** AU Zuko/Katara  
**Genre: **Romance/Angst  
**Drabble #:** 5  
**Summary:** Two cellmates have a conversation.** AU**. (A drabble that fits into one of my upcoming stories, so watch for that!)

* * *

_It was my penance. Having to learn how to let go._

You make it sound so easy.

_It's not, no matter what you say it sounds like._

I'm not disparaging you.

_I know._

Penance for?

_My sins._

What sins? You don't seem like that type of person.

_I'm a traitor. Like my uncle._

Your uncle?

_Dragon of the West. I've told you about him before. _

He seems nice. I'd like to meet him.

_I'd like to see him again. I don't know where he is, or how to get there. I don't even know how to get out of here._

We'll find a way, I'm sure. Promise. Cross my heart and…

_…Hope to die._

Yeah.

_Why are you here? _

I was part of a rebel group. I got captured.

_Just you? _

I guess.

_What about your family? _

My mother… she…

_My mother disappeared six years ago._

Mine died six years ago.

_Something we have in common then. _

Do you want to find her?

_… No. I'd never forgive my father if I did. Ever. _

* * *

**A/N:** Little drabble that slots nicely into a story I'm planning.  
I'm having trouble with my muse. It died and I'm trying to get it back. So… leave me prompts! And pairings. And someday I'll write them.  
Any pairing _except_ Toph/Sokka or slash. Because I can't write Tokka without OOC people and the same goes for slash. But I'd gladly write Maiko or, say Harula. Or Jetzula. Just try to stay away from the Bluezula, because I fear my brain might spontaneously combust.


	6. Departures

**Title:** Forever  
**Pairing/Characters:** Aang/Toph  
**Genre: **Romance/General  
**Drabble #:** 3  
**Summary:** 'If I tell you I love you, can I keep you forever?' - Casper

* * *

"Toph?"

"Yes?"

"I'll… I'll miss you."

Toph bites her lip. "I guess I _might_ miss you too, Twinkletoes," she says awkwardly - she has never been good with mushy emotional stuff.

"Well… will you be at the wedding?"

"Do you think I wouldn't be?"

Aang smiles. "Then I'll see you then. But it's a long way off and…"

"Twinkletoes? Spit it out."

"IfitelyouIlikuwilustay?"

"Right, and I'm supposed to understand that?"

Aang feels his heart sink slightly - why does _everyone_ reject him? First Katara for Zuko (though she hadn't said it at the time), now Toph was rejecting him - for Sokka? But Sokka had Suki…

"I can't. Mother wouldn't let me."

He almost chokes. "You understood that?"

"The last three words."

Sighing dejectedly, he supposes it is for the better.

* * *

**A/N:** I love Aang. Don't you? And Toph is my second favourite character from_ any_ fandom. Luna from Harry Potter is first, but only because I'm like Luna - strange and stuff, only I'm more clumsy (yesterday, I fell off my _bed_, and not to mention at school I give myself bruises from walking into things and ended up grazing my knees a lot because I tend to trip over paper and nonexistent cracks _really_ easily).  
Anyways, same goes for before: give me prompts, and eventually I will write them.

**Oh,** by the way, does anyone want me to continue this into a story? Not saying I will, but I'm tossing the idea around…


	7. Imperfectly Perfect

**Title:** Imperfectly Perfect  
**Pairing/Characters:** Zuko/Katara  
**Setting/Time:** Post-series  
**Drabble #:** 7  
**Summary:** Perfection comes in many forms.

* * *

They first meet after the war on a stormy night, with the wind howling and the sea raging around them. They don't see each other at first, and when they do, it is with slight irritation. If it had been any other way, history would be different.

They begin their mutual dancing-around-each-other on a quiet afternoon, when she suddenly realises he is definitely male and he realises she is definitely female and they share some semblance of an accidental kiss. It turns out the worse for them when Toph walks in on them and Iroh somehow finds out.

They get married on a spring day, settle for the in-between of summer and autumn. Sokka tries to strangle him and she tries to play matchmaker for Ty Lee, but somehow, it all goes upside-down and crashes down around her heads. It is disjointed and messy, but nice all the same.

They argue and fight, but either way, they wouldn't be them without it.

They are fire and water and coexistent but not, and they are pieces of a badly fitting puzzle wedged together so tightly it cannot be undone.

And they aren't perfect; never have been and never will be, but somehow, they like it better this way.

* * *

A/N: Another random plotbunny. Drabble nine will expand on the wedding. Drabble eight will be a Toph-centric Zuko/Katara drabble. Well, I think so, but I actually need to write them first.


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